So, you’ve gone and downloaded some elisp file
(foo.el, say). Now, what do you do with it? Well,
the community
convetion on the matter is to toss .el files
in, say, ~/elisp/ (an elisp directory
in your home directory). Once you have such a directory you need
to ensure that it’s present in Emacs’ load-path
variable. This is typically done by adding something like this
to your ~/.emacs file:

(add-to-list 'load-path "~/elisp")

Next, you’ll need to configure Emacs to load the new file. Most
of the time, you should be able to add (require
'foo) to ~/.emacs (where foo
means foo.el).

Simplify! Use install.el

That’s often all you have to do, but there are lots of
exceptions. Fortunately, Stefan
Monnier’s install.el
handles the vast majority of elisp files you’ll run into, and is
very easy to use itself. Install it by following my directions
above. Now, whenever you’d like to install an elisp file, simply
invoke the install-file command (via M-x
install-file RET). That’s it!

Managing ~/elisp with Make

I never remember where I got all of these elisp files from, so I
keep track of the download links in a Makefile in
~/elisp. Entries look like this:

This work is licensed to you under version 2 of the GNUGeneral
Public License.
Alternatively, you may choose to receive this work under any
other license that grants the right to use, copy, modify, and/or
distribute the work, as long as that license imposes the
restriction that derivative works have to grant the same rights
and impose the same restriction.
For example, you may choose to receive this work under the GNUFree Documentation
License, the CreativeCommonsShareAlike
License, the XEmacs manual license, or similar licenses.

Comments

Those are some great ideas that you're sharing, especially the use of a Makefile.